‘Project Ananta’: Planning Commission approves the project

The Planning Commission has given its ‘in principle’ approval to the “Project Ananta” which is a pilot project aimed at development of the drought-prone Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. The Rs 8,000-crore project will take a holistic approach to achieve the target.

The project has been approved after a high-level committee headed by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) had visited the drought-hit Anantapur district last year and submitted a report. It suggested that the district needed a five-year plan to take stock of the situation and prepare a plan to address issues such as natural resource management, crops and livestock. The report envisages a shift in agricultural topography of the district suggesting the farmers to go for cluster bean, pulses and horticulture while also taking up dairy and allied activities in a big way for employment generation.

The government currently spends over Rs.1,000 crore as input subsidy, crop insurances, beside other compensatory measures, to ease the financial stress of the farmers.

The new project would be the biggest ever targeted at handling the problems of the district after the Desert Development Programme a decade ago.